Transcription
You have no idea how God wants to bless you if you'll just do it his way. You have no idea what God might want to do in your life. But you got to decide, am I going to trust God or me with my finances? Am I going to do it my way or am I going to do it God's way? Do I want my blessing or do I want God's blessing?
You may not realize this. Jesus spoke more about money than he did either heaven or hell. Half of all of his parables mention money. A third of all of his parables, his stories deal with investments. And Jesus commends wise investors and criticizes foolish investors. Why? Because life is a test and life is a trust.
God has made some incredible promises of financial blessing in the word of God, but they all have premises. Now, before we look at the promises of God, I want to make something very clear right here at the start. God does not want everybody in the world to be a millionaire. God doesn't want everybody in the world to be enormously rich. The Bible doesn't teach that. Not only does the Bible not teach that, Jesus taught the exact opposite.
So before we look at the promises of God for financial blessing, I want you to look at two statements of Jesus. First, Luke 12:15, Jesus said, "Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." In other words, life is not about acquisition. It's not about he who dies with the most toys. The guy who spends his life getting the most toys has wasted his life. Jesus said, "You're not going to take any of it with you. I did not put you on earth just to pile up stuff. The greatest things in life are not things. Your value and your valuables are not the same. Your net worth and your self-worth are not the same. It's not about getting. A man's life does not consist in what he acquires. So you never want to let the things that money can buy keep you or rob you of the things that money can't buy."
Now look at the second passage, Luke 16. Jesus said this. I tell you, use worldly wealth. Circle the word use. Money is to be used. You don't love it. You don't serve it. You don't idolize it. You use it. Money is to be used. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, eternal friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
Now, I don't have time to go into this in detail, but we've talked about it before. What this verse is simply saying is you should use some of your money to help reach people for Christ, so that when you get to heaven, there are people there who go, "Hey, I'm here because of you. I'm your friend forever because you helped build a church building. uh you helped uh finance a program, you helped reach me for Christ, you bought a Bible, you shared a book, you used some of your money to spread the good news, and as a result, I'm in heaven. I'm your friend forever. It's all he's talking about here."
Then Jesus gives four tests about money management. He says this, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much." God looks to see if you can handle what he gives you little then he gives you more. And whoever is dishonest with very little little will also be dishonest with much.
Then he says second test if you haven't been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth. What does that mean? Trustworthy handy world wealth. He's talking about money management. He said if you don't manage your money well if you're in debt all the time you're behind on your payments. You're not saving. You're not tithing. you're not doing all the different things that God tells you to do. You're not investing wisely. He said, if you're not managing your money well, he says, if you haven't been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you the true riches? He's saying money is a test, and God is determining what he's going to bless you with in heaven for eternity based on how you do what what he gives you here.
And then he says, number three, if you've not been trustworthy with somebody else's property, who's going to give you your own? And I've told you this before. You don't really own anything on this planet. It's all on loan. God owns it and he loans it. And he loans it to you for about 80 years. It wasn't you be yours before you were born. It's not going to be yours after you die. He's going to loan it to somebody else. You don't really own it. You're not taking it with you. It's just all on loan. And God says, "I'm testing you while you're on earth to see if you are faithful with what I loaned you. Who's going to give you your own property in eternity if I can't trust you with what's mine here on earth?"
And then he says, number four, no one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money. Now, circle the word serve. He didn't say you should not serve. He says you cannot serve. Money should never be served. Money should never be loved. Money should be used.
Now this these passages teach us two very important truths. Would you write these down? Number one, money is a tool and a test. Money is a tool. It's a tool to be used. And it is a test. What does it test? God uses money to test your gratitude. God uses money to test your faith. God uses money to test your priorities. God uses money to test your values. God uses money to test how responsible and mature you are. God uses money to test your character. It is a very important test.
And the second thing God says here is that managing money is a spiritual discipline. Managing money is a spiritual discipline. It is far more important than you realize. You may think, "Oh, I just need to manage my money so I'm not in debt." Or, "Oh, I just need to manage my money so I can live a more comfortable lifestyle." Now, there's nothing wrong with that, either of those things. But money management is far more important than that. The Bible says it is the spiritual discipline that God uses. He says, "If you're not faithful with worldly wealth, who's going to trust you with the true riches of the universe and the true riches in heaven?"
Now there is so much that the Bible has to say about financial money management. Literally hundreds and hundreds of verses. Now most of these verses are from the book of the proverbs of Solomon. Now why is that important? Because Proverbs of Solomon was written by King Solomon who was the wisest man who ever lived and the wealthiest man who ever lived. So we're not giving you advice from Rick Warren today. This is advice from the wisest and wealthiest man who ever lived. And he's in the Bible. And God says, "This is true stuff."
Now, what we're going to do is we're going to look at eight habits for financial blessing. God says, "I have these promises for you. If you do this, then I will bless you in this way." And you got to do all of them. All eight of them are important. these eight financial habits. You're going to have to learn these skills if you want God's financial blessing on your life.
Now, let's get right into them. Number one, the first habit for financial blessing is I must trust God as my source and supply. I must trust God as my source and supply. Now, what does that mean? It means your source of your income is not your job. The source of your income is God. Now, he may use a job or anything else, but that's just the tool. When I turn on a faucet, I don't really think the faucet is the source of the water. I know that that water is coming from Northern California. The the faucet just happens to get it to me. It's not the supplier. It's just the channel. Your job is not your not your supplier. It's your channel. And if one faucet gets turned off, God can turn another one on just as easily because he's the supplier. Does that make sense?
Now, not only is God the supplier of your financial blessing and the source of it, he is the security, the source of your security. You see, if you're going to have security, you must put it in something that can never be taken from you. You can lose your money. You can lose your savings. You can lose your job. You can lose your house. You can lose the people you love. The only thing that can never ever be taken from you is the unconditional love of God. So I suggest you put your security not in how much you got in the bank, but how much love God loves you with. Because anything else can be taken from you. And if you don't, how do you know when something other than God is your security? Real simple. you worry. Worry is the warning light that you are trusting something other than God for your security and your supply.
Now look at these verses. Romans 11:36, everything comes from God. Everything exists by his power and everything is intended for his glory. God owns it, but God loans it to you while you're here on earth. Now the next verse says, Proverbs 16:3, commit your work to the Lord and then your plans will what? Circle the word succeed. God says, I want you to succeed in your work, but you got to commit it to me. You got to trust me as the source and supply. Whatever you want God to bless, you put him first in. You want God to bless your marriage, put him first in your marriage. You want God to bless your work, put him first in your work. If you want God to bless your time, you put him first in your time. If you want God to bless your health, you put him first in your health. You trust God as your source and supply.
Number two, second habit you must develop. I must do my work as an act of worship. If I want God's financial blessing on my life, I must do my work, whatever I'm doing, as an act of worship. And no matter what you do, you may sweep the streets. It's more than just a job. You're doing it as if you're working for the Lord. No matter what you do, every act of work can be an act of worship.
Now, some of you, your heart isn't in your work. You're not doing with enthusiasm. You can barely get along. You're then you're in the wrong job because life is too short to spend it doing work your heart isn't in. There's a lot more. In fact, it's a sin. The Bible says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart." If you can't do what you do with all your heart, you need to change jobs because it needs to be an act of worship.
Now, what kind of work does God bless? He blesses all kinds of work as long as it's done five ways. You might write these down. It's these next five verses. First, God blesses planning. Proverbs 2:15, "Good planning and hard work leads to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to what? Poverty." God blesses planning. That's the first thing he does. God blesses planning. He wants you to plan your work and he wants you to work your plan.
Number two, God blesses initiative. He not only wants you to plan your work, he wants you to take the initiative. God never blesses laziness. The Bible says in Proverbs 10:4, "Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands will bring what? Wealth." Now, what is he saying? He's saying, "Stop waiting for your ship to come in. Swim out to it. You got to take the initiative. You got Don't stop waiting for something to happen. You take the initiative." He says you need to make a plan and then you need to take the initiative. That's what God blesses in wealth creation.
Number three, God blesses integrity. God blesses integrity. If you want God to bless your finances, you must be honest. That means you pay your taxes and you don't cheat people. God never blesses dishonest gain in any way. Proverbs 16:11, the Lord demands fairness in every business deal. So, he's not going to bless it if it's unfair. He sets the standard. God says, "I want you to plan your work. I want you to take the initiative. I want you to have integrity and do it with honesty."
Number four, God blesses focus. He says, "You need to stay focused. Don't just keep moving around from project to project, jumping around from job to job, from idea to idea, from opportunity to opportunity. Get an idea and stick with it. Stay stay focused. You don't get distracted by pipe dreams, everything that comes along. Proverbs 12:11, "Hard work brings prosperity. Only fools waste time chasing fantasies."
And then number five, God blesses persistence. In other words, when you get a job, you keep at it. You don't give up the first time you have a failure. You don't give up the first time the stock goes down. You don't give up the first time somebody looks at you crossways and criticizes you for what you're doing. You are persistent. The Bible says, "Wealth from get rich quick, get rich quick schemes quickly disappears, but wealth from hard work grows." You ever heard the phrase easy come, easy go? Well, that's where it comes from. It comes from this verse. It's from the Bible. Money that is made quickly and easily is gone quickly and easily.
Okay. Number three, third habit you're going to have to develop. Keep good records. If you want God's financial blessing on your life in the next 10 years, like I want it to be for you. If you want to get out of debt, you want to be financially free, you're going to have to keep good records. This is a principle of accounting. That means you write it down. You got to keep track of your finances. You say, "Oh, Rick, I hate to do that." Yeah. Well, you say, "I don't have time to do it." Do you have time to worry? If you wrote everything down, it's you'd have a whole lot less to worry about.
Now, notice this verse. Proverbs 27:23 and 24. Riches can disappear fast. Everybody agree with that part? Yeah. Okay. Riches can disappear fast. So, watch your business interest closely. Know the state of your flocks and herds. Now, why you say flocks and herds? Because when the Bible's written, this passage here, all wealth was tied up in your livestock. You could easily tell who was rich. Uh in go Bible days, if you had a lot of cows, a lot of sheep, or a lot of goats, you were wealthy. If you had no animals, you were poor. There were no banks. There were no stocks. There were no businesses, per se. Everybody's wealth was tied up in their in the animals that they had. So he says when when he says know your flocks, he's saying watch your business interest. Today instead of saying know your flocks, God would say know your stocks. In other words, you need to know where they're going.
Now he says riches can disappear fast. People say money talks. It does not. It just walks away quietly and you end up with more, you know, more of the month left over at the end of the money. You go, where is all this going? Anytime you say, "I just don't know where it goes." It means you're already in trouble because easy credit plus ignorance equals disaster. You must keep good records. You got to write it down. And you got to know what you owe. You got to know what you earn. You got to know what you own. And you got to know where it's going. And if you don't, as I said, easy credit plus being in the dark equals disaster. It's a warning. If you don't know where it's going, you are already headed in deep trouble. You got to keep good records.
1 Corinthians 16:2. On the first day of every week, that's Sunday, when you go to worship, put aside some of what you have earned during the week and use it for the offering. Now, the amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you to earn. It's in a proportional giving. Now, this verse is primarily about planning your tithing, but that's not why I put it in there. I put it in there because I want you to circle the phrase put aside. Put aside you. You can't set aside some for the offering or you can't set aside some for savings or you can't set aside some for vacation unless you're keeping good records. You can't put aside anything if you don't know what you've got and where it's going. You must keep good records.
Habit number four, if you want God's blessing on your finances, give the first 10% back to God. Give the first 10% back to God. Now, I don't have to spend any time on this because this is tithing. Most of you know this principle and most of you are tithers in this church. Tithing means the first 10% I give back to God. Tithe means 10 or 10%.
Proverbs 3:9 and 10 says this. Honor the Lord by giving him the leftovers of all your income. Oh, that's not what it says, is it? What's it say? First part. Circle that first part. That means right off the top. Right off the top. And he will fill your barns to overflow. You say, Rick, why does God say give him back 10%. Why? Why 10? I don't know. I really don't know. when it's one of the questions on my I've got a list of things I'm going to ask God when we get to heaven. One of them is he I mean he could have said 5%, he could have said 20%, he could have said two, he could have said 90. Why he said 10, I don't know. The point is God doesn't need my money. He just wants what it represents, my life. And the most sensitive nerve in my body goes from the heart to the wallet.
Now look at the next verse. The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives. That's what it's there for. And tithing does three things. It's a statement of gratitude. God, I wouldn't have anything if it weren't for you. It's a statement of purpose. God, you're first in my life, so I'll give you the first part of my money on the first day of the week. And it's a statement of faith. God, I believe you you'll keep your promises that if I put you first, you'll take care of all my needs. So, it's gratitude, it's priority, and it's faith.
Now, in Malachi 3:10, uh God says this, "Bring my bring to my storehouse," that's the temple. It's it's where you worship. Bring to my storehouse a full tenth of what you earn. 2% is not a tithe. 8% is not 10% is a tithe. Bring a full tenth of what you earn. Test me in this, says the Lord, and see if I will open a window of blessing for you and pour out all the blessings you need. There are more promises in the Bible about tithing than anything else.
Now, number five, this one's just as important as tithing. I must save and invest for the future. You must save and invest if you want God's blessing on your life. You can't just tithe. You can't just keep good records. You can't just honor God. You must save and invest for the future.
Now, the Bible calls savings God's IQ test. It really tells how smart you are, whether you're saving or not. In Proverbs 21:20, the wise man saves for the future. That's what that's wise. It shows you're smart. But the foolish spends whatever he gets. Now, let me let me give you a question that will help you increase your savings ability. You just ask this question. Do I really need this? You just ask yourself that question. You start to buy something. Could I put this money in the bank and save it or do I really need this? You see, when you save, you're getting your money to work for you. The problem is most people are poor or never get out of debt because they're working for their money instead of getting their money to work for them. When you say, every time you save, every time you invest, you're getting your money to work for you. Money should work for you, not you for money. Does that make sense? The Bible says that savings and investing is a mark of wisdom. When you save, you're making money work for you.
Now, notice this next verse. Proverbs 13:11. Money that comes easily disappears quickly. But money that is gathered little by little will grow. In other words, it's going to compound like with interest. Circle little by little. The reason why most people don't save, number one, is they spend it all and number two is they don't think it's going to matter that much. It says money saved little by little will grow. It's not, listen, it's not how much you save, it's the consistency that matters. Doing it every single week. A lot of people say, "Well, I can't put a whole lot in." Well, what can you put in? Start saving every week and the consistency, little by little, it will grow.
Now, notice this next verse. If I if you just keep on doing it a little bit at a time, it'll all add up. Proverbs 24:27 says, "Develop your business first before building your house." This is one of the many financial principles that Solomon gives in the book of Proverbs. Develop your business first before building your house. What's he saying there? He's saying when you get some income, instead of going out and spending on a luxury or buying a new painting or painting the house or doing something that doesn't really grow your wealth, he says, "You need to reinvest it." and you put it back into your business or you put it back into some kind of investment. So, it's growing and the money is working for you instead of you just spending it on some luxury. All of a sudden, you're making money with your money. God says that's wise. Now, the Bible says that you need to develop your business before you build your house. Other words, put it back into investment rather than saying, "Oh, let's just go buy a bigger house."
Now the number five, number six, the six things you need to do. And by the way, these are in order is you set up a repayment plan. You set up a repayment plan to get yourself out of debt. God wants you debtree so he can tell you what to do with your life. Some of you, if God told you to do something, he had a great opportunity for you, you couldn't. You're in such financial bondage, you couldn't move if you had to.
Now, here's what the Bible says. Proverbs 3:27, "Don't withhold repayment of your debts." And the Bible says in Romans 13:8, "Let no debt remain outstanding." What does an outstanding debt means? It means you're only paying the minimum. If you're only paying the minimum on your card, you're not paying your card off every month. You are letting a debt remain outstanding. That's wrong. Not only is it wrong, instead of you working your money working for you, you're working for your money. And you're doing it in exact opposite.
Now remember, I said these are in order. Keep good records. Give the first 10% back to God. Save and invest for the future. Then set up a repayment plan. You said, "Wait a minute, Rick. Are you telling me to save and to tithe before I pay my debts?" That's exactly what I'm telling you to do. You say, "Why?" Because you need God's help getting out of debt. Somebody asked John uh uh Rockefeller who was the wealthiest man of his day. He was the Bill Gates of his day, the Warren Buffett of his day. How did you get so wealthy? He called it the 10 1080 plan. He said you tithe 10% first 10% to God. Second 10% you pay yourself in savings and then live live on 80%. You say I can't live on 80%. Then you are living beyond your means. You can live on anything if you want to. You are living beyond your means. You need to pay God first. You need to pay yourself second. And then you set up a repayment plan for your debts. And God will help you with those things. If you wait till you're out of debt, you're never going to start saving. And you're never going to tithe because you're always going to your your earnings will always be exceeded by your yearnings.
Now, you need to set up a repayment plan. Number seven, if you want God's blessing on your finances, you must budget your spending. You must budget your spending. Now, what is a budget? A budget is simply a plan. It is planned spending. That's all it is. A budget is telling your money where you want it to go rather than wondering where it went. You say, "I want this to go here. I want this to go to college. I want this to go to my kids. this to savings. I want this to go to the Lord. I want this to go to food. A budget is telling your money where you want it to go where you control it instead of it controls you. And the Bible says you need to have a plan. Proverbs 2:15, plan carefully, that's talking about a budget, and you will have plenty. If you act too quickly, you will never have enough.
Now, circle the phrase act too quickly. What's he talking about there? there. He says, "If you act too quickly, you're always going to be in debt. You're never going to have enough money. You're always going to be behind schedule." What does it mean if you act too quickly? The Bible there is talking about what advertisers and marketers and merchandisers call impulse buying. Have you ever gone into a store and bought something you didn't plan on buying, but you looked at it and you saw it, you go, "Whoa, how did I ever live without that?" A and and you buy stuff not based on reason, not based on rationality. You buy it purely on emotion. And have you noticed it's geared at right at the most visible spots. Oh, why not? Let's take some of those things. Those look great. That's and that's plan. That is impulse buying. You need to budget your spending.
Now, there's one more. Number eight, and all of these are important. I must enjoy what I have. Bible says this in 1 Timothy 6:18, "Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them." You know, I was interviewed recently on radio and somebody said, 'Why do you think God let you write purpose-driven life, bestselling book in American history? Because it brought in a lot of money. I said, you know why? Because God knew what I'd do with the money. He knew in advance. I had already had 35 years of faithfulness. He knew he had trusted me in little things so he could trust me in bigger things. Can God trust you? Have you proven by your p does your do your finances right now prove that you know how to manage money according to the biblical way?
Now what we're talking about here friends if you want God's blessing is you're going to have to do the exact opposite of our culture. Now you got to do all eight of these habits. I know some people who tithe but they're not satisfied with what they've got. And I know some people who are, you know, uh, trying to repay their debts, but they're not saving anything. You've got to do it all.
Now, I know debt is a big problem and that many of you, and I pray for you, those of you who are in debt, I pray for you and I hurt for you. The Bible says this on the screen. Jesus said, "Don't worry." It just says it. Don't Don't worry. Your heavenly father already knows what you need and he will give it to you. That's the promise. Here's the premise. If you give him first place in your life and you live as he wants you to.
Now, I want to pray for you. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, I thank you that you want to bless our health. You want to bless our families. I thank you that you want to bless our jobs and our finances that these are not areas that you're uninterested in. I pray for all who are here today in debt, who are worried about their finances. I pray for all who are out of work right now. Lord, give them a job. I pray that many today will say, "I'm going to take that step of faith. I'm going to stop pretending. I'm going to I'm going to follow God's financial plan. And I pray this in your name. Amen. [Music]